I am a total Bruce LaBruce fan and I doubt I will ever forget my reaction to the first of his movies that I saw way back when. I was completely engrossed in the honest way he showed gay life and while his films might be considered outlandish and over the top by some, I will always argue for the merit I see in them. LaBruce has dared to go where others will not consider and while there are those who see pornography here, there are also those of us who see beauty. Known as The Advocate for Fagdom, there seem to be no boundaries and LaBruce constantly pushes our buttons allowing us to see a side of gay life that we do not often see on screen. LaBruce is one of the main people in the New Queer Cinema, a group of filmmakers that do not shy away from the reality of life.

LaBruce began his career in Toronto in the 1980s with queer punk fanzines and Super 8 short films, eventually moving into the international independent movie scene, LaBruce was already writing and taking photographs. He wrote for established gay magazines such as “Honcho” and “Inches” and also often supplied them with photographs. This book is the first time that we have his collected thoughts that includes his very “thought-provoking, political, opinionated and cleverly-pointed articles about pornography”. The book is loaded with photographs and includes a conversation between LaBruce and gay porn legend Peter Berlin as well as numerous essays, articles, stories, and three shooting diaries, for “Skin Flick”, “The Raspberry Reich” and “L.A. Zombie”.

LaBruce tells us that he never had the intention of being a pornographer, “I considered my early Super 8 short films and my first three feature films as art films with sexually explicit content; but as I gained a reputation as a pornographer, as did my producer Jurgen Brüning, we decided to start making ‘real’ porn…. I started making narrative, art films with porn actors and making two versions; softcore and hardcore,” and there are two versions each of “Skin Flick”, “L.A. Zombie”, and “The Raspberry Reich”.

LaBruce describes how porn actors struggle with scripts and we learn that LaBruce is like the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain… he pulls it back to reveal the reality of porn filmmaking. He shares that he likes to push the boundary and try to make porn as much like a narrative feature as possible.

LaBruce also shares some of the challenges of indie filmmaking and these include patience, hard work and endless tweaking. “I have a strange drive that compels me to make films, even though I find it enormously challenging; if I don’t make a feature after a certain period of time, I start to get depressed and anxious.” He loves the feedback he gets from people especially those who tell me him how his films have influenced or inspired them. LaBruce sees porn as an unconscious acting out that goes against the regulations of society. The free love that we see in his films ties into LaBruce’s own personal philosophy of love. He is “militantly anti-monogamy” and is in an open marriage because he says that falls in love with other people all the time.

This book provides context to his work in a conversational manner, making the reader feel as though he is actually having a conversation with LaBruce. I can vouch for that having had a phone chat with him after he released “Gerontophilia”. In that chat, I realized how much I missed in the film and who could be better to tell me than the director and screenwriter (with Daniel Allen Cox) himself. I then re-watched the film and it was almost completely different.

Queer filmmaker Matt Lambert is known for his unusual, visionary films and “Flower” is by far his most explicit work yet. It is about celebrating sex positivity and dismantling the shame that surrounds gay sex. We see five young guys having sex and the sex they share is infused it with a sense of intimacy, sweetness and honesty. It intercuts the men having a bit of a sex-fuelled party with a very sensual erotic session the next morning. Things take an unexpected turn when the men start lip-syncing to Pansy Division’s 90s tune, “Flower” and this includes using an erect penis as a microphone which adds an unusual but rather fun, punk edge to the end of the film.

Lambert feels that adding a sense of connection and humanity to porn is important because many learn about their sexuality through porn. Often what we have is demeaning and dehumanizing. This tries to correct that.

James Lear is a literary pornographer and that is not a term that I give away easily. I have reviewed all of his books and find that he just keeps getting better even though I rarely read gay erotic writing. I believe it was about ten years ago that I was first introduced to Lear (when I was one of Cleis Press’s regular reviewers before the company was sold). He knows how to create a situation that he make erotic in very few words and I can safely say that he has written some of the best and some of the hottest gay prose that I have ever read.

He does the same in his new book, “While My Wife’s Away” and just the title reeks of eroticism and sexy thoughts. Try to remember your first time with a married straight man (so many of us have done this) and see if it doesn’t rank with some of your most erotic experiences. Here we meet Joe Heath who seems to be a typical (“typical” is a word that bothers me because I am not sure that such a thing exists anymore) straight married man, living with his wife and two teenage children. He commutes to work, plays sports and enjoys beer but there are some things about Joe that very few people know and those that do have been his sexual partners. No one really knows that his marriage is sliding as is his relationship with his wife. They sleep in separate bedrooms and really have stayed together for their kids. only staying together until the kids have left home. Something else that others do not know is that Joe wants to have sex with another man.

When a chance meeting with a trainer at his gym occurs, it sets Joe off as a series of other sexual encounters with men. In fact, Joe has all kinds of encounters from casual to serious to dangerous. This is way James Lear goes to town. It did not take long before Joe began living a double and dishonest life (as far as his family is concerned). Joe earns for his family by day and becomes a sexual adventurer by night. His hunting ground is the internet where he can find whatever he wants.

Now you may ask where is the literary aspect of James Lear’s work. I see it in Joe’s self-discovery of who he really is. While he is not the kind of guy that I would want to call a friend, I cheer him on as he learns abut himself and we can only hope that self-acceptance will follow. Lear is a sophisticated writer whose pornography is also sophisticated and there is a profundity in this novel (and I will let you discover that yourselves). Yes, the prose is sexually stimulating but it is also, to a degree, intellectually stimulating. There is an inner psychological drama here and we see this clearly when we look at the lies that Joe need to use in order to be himself. Joe faces himself when dealing with what he considers to be personal need and not morality or the lack of it. He is not happy in a marriage that has run its course but we do not know who gets the blame for this.

This is in no way a romance—it is hard erotica with no emotions and no hanging around for coffee in the morning. While the sex is plentiful, it is not gratuitous in that they contribute to the growth of Joe’s character. It took the accident at the gym and the attentions of the trainer Adrian for Joe to realize what had been missing in his life. When Adrian helps him at the gym, Joe becomes aroused and this is where his journey begins. He sets out on a quest from which, in all probability, there will be no return. If he does not go about it in the right way he could destroy himself and everyone involved with him.

The novel just ends and it leaves us with several unanswered questions making me think that we have not seen the last of Joe.

Todd Gregory is a name we associate with gay erotic writing and while we have not heard from him in quite a while, he is back with new novel. Set on the campus of Polk State, we meet seniors Brandon Benson and Phil Connor, fraternity brothers who play a game of seduction yet they do not think about the damage they cause and so not understand that they are playing with others’ emotions until it is too late. The sex scenes are graphic but I had a rough time remembering who was who because of the way the story is told and the number of characters that we meet. In fact, each chapter is the perspective of a different person.

I had the impression that held together the friendship between Phil and Brandon friendship was their daring each other. Something was missing about how they were so close. Phil is the president of his fraternity, and the two figured that this would allow for a lot of fun with the pledges and new members. What they did not understand was that sex is not a game and that could be consequences for their thoughtless actions. I found nothing in either of their personalities that made me feel anything positive about them but I suspect that is what the author wanted.

I also felt that setting gay erotica in a fraternity was a but if a stretch even though there are gay fraternity brothers even though sexuality in the house was acceptable and there were a few gay men who were members. Again, this could be deliberate as if to say that there are gay people everywhere. Having been a gay fraternity man myself, I remember well how difficult it was to be so but then it was at a different time in history.

It is always difficult to read about main characters that are despicable. Not only are they difficult to find ways to identify with them, they are responsible for dealing with others’ lives. Yet, for some reason I was fascinated by them and they certainly kept me reading. I was totally blindsided by the ending and so after I finished reading the book, I sat quietly for an hour letting what I had just finished sink in. As I wrote, I realized that the problems I had with the book were actually set ups so that we could get a different perspective of gay life even if it is one that does not please the average reader and I understood that this was the true genius of the writer’s work.

I was just about to give up on gay erotic fiction since it has been a long time since I have read something that knocked me out. But then I received a copy of David Holly’s “Homoerotic Tales” and my mind was changed instantly. The stories collected here are about gay sex among men (duh!). They cover the spectrum of erotica and some are “explicit, comical, erotic, lascivious, enthralling, lewd, mouth-watering, shameless, scandalous, indecent, dirty, smutty, naughty, ribald, and rude”. I have, of late, maintained that thee are really two kinds of erotica—trash and literary smut. David Holly writes literary smut. In fact, on page six, Holly informs us that his stories are explicit and erotic. I have always felt that in order for erotica to really succeed, it has to rely n more than just being erotic. We need characters we can identify with and stories that are so far fetched, they just could not be. Holly obviously believes that as well as his stories are more than just cheap sex related in a tawdry manner. I even liked some of the characters and the plot lines (strike that word “even”—it sounds forced).

I have a problem with collections like these when it comes time to sit down and write a review. I suppose the best way to do this would be to same something about each of the stories but the that review would go on forever. I can say that I like the book but that in effect means nothing if I cannot say what I like about it. I could describe the erotica but that could get me censored. I could commend the author on a great imagination but the stories might be based on his own personal experience (and if these stories really happened to Holly, he is a very lucky man with a permanent erection. The best I can say is to tell you to get a copy and then see for yourself.

In a pitch to say alive after the sale of the business and something of a disastrous reorganization, Cleis Press has released a new book by one of its most popular writers, James Lear. Lear is one of my favorite literary smut (an endearing term for erotica) writers and as usual, we get a fine and very sexy read.

We meet Mitch Mitchell who needs a vacation and is determined to make the most of his trip to the Mediterranean island of Gozo. However, unlike Mitchell, death takes no vacations and Mitch finds himself investigating what happened to a young, gay lance corporal. The police have classified it as a suicide but the dead man’s boyfriend claims it was murder. Mitch suspects that some kind of gay cover-up is taking place and gets to work on an investigation that leads him into a maze of lies, false identities and secret sex.

Mitchell, himself has quite an active sex life and he shares his sexual adventures with us and provides many details. What we do not know at first is that in dealing with the loss of Vince, the love of his life, we see that the is trying to hide how he feels by engaging in a full and active sex life.

Mitch was invited to the island of Gozo and he assumed that the reason was that an old friend wanted him for sex. However, he soon finds himself embroiled in a murder investigation. Yet Mitch always seems able to find sexual satisfaction on the job.

This is actually the fourth volume in the Mitch Mitchell series and while you do not have to read the prior books to enjoy this. However, if you have read them then you already know something about Mitch and his sexual proclivities. He is an American doctor who thinks of himself as some kind of detective who loves sex. He loves mysteries and man sex just about the same.

On the island there are plenty of willing and able-bodied men but Mitch soon learns that everything is not all sunshine and men. The novel comes at us from two directions— the sexual and the mysterious. Mitch is a bit subdued because of the loss of Vince as well as Lover Boy Morgan. When gay men begin turning up dead, Mitch realizes that this is really a serious business and he is determined to find out who is responsible. Combing mystery and erotica, James Lear gives us another great novel. Clear you day before you begin reading because you will not be able to stop.

Laz Kincaid is grieving over having to shoot a horse when he meets Johnny Anglim on the road to Cheyenne. Johnny is taken with Laz from the moment they meet and eventually the two get it on. However, Laz remains somewhat cold and distant even though the two men have been intimate. When they finally get to Cheyenne, Johnny meets

Deputy Wade Rowley who warns Johnny about Laz and claims that he is only one who can break through to him. Johnny understand this to mean that Wade is the other man in Laz’s life by the refuses to let him go and understands that there could be trouble.

Dale Chase has set her book in the Wild West and if you have read her other books, you know that she often does. I am fairly sure that this is because of the kind of men that live there. This is en emotional love story where sex is the focal point and Chase really knows how to write sex scenes and she does that once again here. I do find, however, that the story is secondary to the sex that we read about.

It seems to me that there is a lot less erotica being written these days but Chase has her readers that wait for her books. Have a look at this one— I am sure you will not be disappointed.

To really appreciate “Eric’s Body”, it helps to know some of what it went through before finally being published. Originally it was published in l995 by Badboy Books and became an overnight sensation. Writer Jason Fury, (the nom de plume of Jery Tillotson), sent the manuscript to 120 publishers and was rejected by all of them. Several would not touch the book because of the theme of male/male love. Fury was lucky enough to find Richard Kasak, a publisher who specialized in high-class erotica and the book was published are reprinted over and over and became Richard Kasak’s best-selling book that year and the year after its first publication. Nonetheless, it was considered by many to be pornographic and bookstore owners were arrested for selling it and Fury realized that America was not as free as people thought it to me. The 25 stories deal with many themes such as heartbreak (“Barbed Wire”) and humor (“The Bastard of the County”) to the haunting (“The Last of the Seven Beauties”) and we meets some unforgettable men who are complex— jocks, convicts, bad boys, and evangelists.

When this book arrived I must say that I was a bit puzzled about how a gay man could review a book of lesbian erotica. I have a rough time with erotica anyway and in the past when I have been asked to review lesbian erotica I used to say no. I guess I can say that although I once read a good deal of gay erotica but I stopped several years ago because it seemed so redundant and familiar. So I am asking you to bear with me as I attempt to review this book.

Have you ever thought about what girls do when they go away to school? Today’s dorms are co-ed but there was a time when….. College has become a coming of age (and for some a coming out) rite. Rules, it seems, are meant to be broken and college is good for breaking rules as well as for feeling free and liberated. Here we see girls in all kinds of activities and where sex can freely can place.

I must say that the girls in this volume have a great time experimenting with sex among themselves are the stories and the girls are hot. However, if you are looking for literature you are in the wrong place. What might have begun as a collection of nineteen stories actually becomes nineteen various sexcapades with the stories taking a back seat to the erotic elements. The plots were lost along the way.